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Petroglyphs Discovered In India Points To Previously Unknown Civilisation
PETROGLYPHS DISCOVERED IN INDIA POINTS TO PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN CIVILISATION
Western India's Maharashtra state offers a unique window into the country's rich cultural legacy and ancient past. Petroglyphs, a group of rock carvings thought to be 12,000 years old, provide invaluable insight into the region's past. They are now referred to as the Konkan petroglyphs and are located on small hills in the Konkan region. Scientists and anthropology enthusiasts have been hoping to learn more about the once-thriving unknown civilisations in the Konkan region ever since they were discovered.
For thousands of years, many people were unaware of the Konkan petroglyphs because they were concealed beneath mud and soil layers. The first discovery was made in 2012. On the other hand, those who were exposed to the weather were revered or regarded as a part of the cultural heritage that the locals had inherited from their forefathers.
To date, more than 70 sites have yielded more than 1,500 petroglyphs, all of which date to the Mesolithic period. Since agriculture was not shown, the designs appear to have been made by a hunter-gatherer society that had not yet discovered it. The carvings include geometric patterns, birds, human figures, and both land and marine animals, some of which are long extinct.
Tejas Garge, the director of the Maharashtra State Archaeology Department, told the BBC that the first conclusion drawn from studying these petroglyphs is that they were made approximately 10,000 [BCE]. There are no images of farming activities that we could find. However, the pictures show animals that have been hunted, and the animal shapes are detailed. This man was therefore knowledgeable about animals and marine life. That suggests that he relied on hunting for sustenance.
The Konkan petroglyphs are currently included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites tentative list. The high degree of artistic ability and the development of rock etching and scooping techniques are important indicators of the cultural group's intellectual capacity. According to Unesco's website, "the variety of symbolism, forms, composition, proportion, and techniques evident in each site are distinct and collectively represent an insight into the world view of the earliest transitional phases of the culture in Konkan."
The state government has set aside 240 million rupees ($3.2 million) to further investigate and document 400 of the petroglyphs that have been found thus far. The sites where the petroglyphs are situated are unfortunately endangered by road construction, mining, agriculture, erosion, and careless visitors. For this reason, local archaeologists are warning other enthusiasts not to clean or mark the carvings when they visit these historical sites.